All persons wore asked to identify themselves according to the following race categories on the 1980 questionnaire: White, Black or Negro, American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Asian Indian, Vietnamese, Hawaiian, Guamanian, Samoan, and Other. The "Other" category includes Malayan, Polynesian, Thai, and other groups not included in the specific categories listed on the questionnaire. This item was asked on a complete-count basis.

Counts of the population by race in complete-count tabulations are provisional. Final counts for race will be determined after the sample data have been processed. The sample counts will first appear on tape on STF 3 and in print in Characteristics of the Population, General Social and Economic Characteristics (PC80-1-C) reports.

The concept of race as used by the Census bureau reflects self-identification by respondents; it does not denote any clear-cut scientific definition of biological stock. Since the 1980 census obtained information on race through self-identification, the data represent self-classification by people according to the race with which they identify themselves. For persons with parents of different races who could not provide a single response to the race question, the race of the person's mother was used; however, if a single response could not be provided for the person's mother, the first race reported by the person was used.

During clerical operations on all questionnaires, write-in responses were reviewed in an attempt to classify entries to existing categories. For instance, if the other circle was marked and accompanied by a write-in entry of Caucasian, the other circle was erased and the circle for "White" was filled, (additional examples are noted below.) However, Hispanic write-in categories such as "Mexican" or "Puerto Rican" were not recoded during complete-count processing, nor were Asian/Pacific Islander entries such as "Cambodian," "Indo-Chinese," or "Polynesian." During the subsequent processing of sample questionnaires, all persons in the "other" category with write-in entries were assigned codes which were recorded on the basic records.

After sample coding, or "Polynesian" categories such as "Cambodian," "Indo-Chinese," are collectively tabulated as "Other Asian and Pacific Islander" in sample tabulations with detailed race categories and added into the broader "Asian and Pacific Islander* category in other sample tabulations by race. This shifts a significant part of those cases tabulated as "other races" in complete-count data to "Asian and Pacific Islander" in sample data and affects the comparability between complete-count and sample data for these broad groups.

Persons who indicated their race as White, as well as persons who did not classify themselves in one of the specific race categories listed on the questionnaire but entered a response such as Canadian, German, Italian, Lebanese, or Polish. (Persons who did not classify themselves in one of the specified race categories but wrote in entries such as Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican, or Dominican were included in the "Other races" category; in the 1970 census most of these persons were included in the "White" category.)

Persons who indicated their race as Black or Negro, as well as persons who did not classify themselves in one of the specific race categories, but reported entries such as Black Puerto Rican, Haitian, Jamaican, Nigerian, or West Indian.

Persons who indicated their race as Chinese, as well as persons who did not classify themselves in one of the specific race categories, but reported entries such as Cantonese, Formosan, Taiwanese, or Tibetan.

Persons who indicated their race as Asian Indian, as well as persons who did not classify themselves in one of the specific race categories, but reported entries such as Bengali, Bharati, Dravidian, East Indian, Goanese, Hindu Indic, Kashmiri, or South Asian.

Persons who indicated their race as Hawaiian. In the State of Hawaii, al1 persons who reported "Part-Hawaiian" were included in this category. Guamanian. Persons who indicated their race as Guamanian, as well as persons who did not classify themselves in one of the race categories, but reported an entry such as Chamorro or Guam.

In sample tabulations only, persons who reported Cambodian, Hmong, Indo-Chinese, Laotian, Pakistani, Polynesian, Fiji Islander, Tahitian, Thai, or similar responses. Census basic records include codes for over 50 separate race group s within this category. In complete-count tabulations, this group is part of the "Other races" category below.

Includes Asian and Pacific Islander groups not identified-separately (e.g., Cambodian, Indo-Chinese, Pakistani, Indonesian, Fiji Islander) and other races not included in the specific categories listed on the questionnaire. (Asian and Pacific Islander groups in the "other" category in 100-percent tabulations are included in the category "Asian and Pacific Islander" in sample tabulations. Persons who wrote in "Mexican," "Cuban," "South American," "Chicano," or "La Raza" remained in the "other" races category for both complete-count and sample tabulations.)

In a few tables in which data for American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, and Asian and Pacific Islander are not presented separately, the "Other" category encompasses all race categories not shown separately.

In some tabulations, the "Other" or "Race, n.e.c." category is omitted to save space; data for this category are derivable by subtracting the sum of the specified race categories from the total.

In certain printed tables, where space is limited, data for persons of Spanish origin are presented alongside data for up to four major race groups. In such situations, users should not be misled by the proximity of these two types of data. Spanish origin is not a race category, and persons of Spanish origin may be of any race. Tabulations in a number of sources present data separately for race categories (e.g., White, Black, and "Other") for persons not of Spanish origin. In addition, the number of Spanish-origin persons is given by race.

In previous censuses, undercoverage of the population has been associated with race. The 1970 census missed Blacks at a much higher rate than Whites. The Bureau has not prepared undercoverage rates for races other than White or Black, because vital records and other sources of relevant statistics do not consistently distinguish among other races.

Questions on "race" or "color" have been asked in each census since 1790. In 1970, when persons with parents of different races were in doubt 8s to their classification, the race of the father was used. In 1980, the race of the mother was used for persons who could not provide a single response. The 1970 category "Negro or Black" has been retitled "Black or Negro. Individual categories for Vietnamese, Asian Indian, Guamanian, and Samoan have been added. In 1970, the categories Eskimo and Aleut appeared only on questionnaires used in Alaska; they were replaced by Hawaiian and Korean in all other States. In 1980, all four categories appeared on the questionnaire.

As a result of the additions, the 1980 questionnaire had 14 specific race categories instead of 8 as in 1970. In 1970, persons who did not report a specific race but wrote in Hispanic categories such as "Mexican," "Puerto Rican," or "Cuban" in the race question were assigned to White; for 1980 these persons remain in the "Other races category.

See also: "Race of Householder;" "Spanish Origin."

Excerpt from:

Social Explorer, U.S. Census Bureau; Census of Population and Housing, 1980 [United States]: Summary Tape File 1a [Computer file]. ICPSR version. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census [producer], 1982. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2002.

Counts of the population by Spanish origin in complete-count tabulations are provisional. Final counts for Spanish origin will be determined after the sample data have been processed. The sample counts will first appear on the tape in STF 3 and in print in Characteristics of Population, General Social and Economic Characteristics, PC80-1-C reports.

Determined by a complete-count question which asks respondents to self-identify whether they are of Spanish origin or descent. If, when interviewed, the person reported a multiple origin and could not provide a single origin, the origin of the person's mother was used. If a single response was not provided for the person's mother, the first reported origin of the person was used.

Persons marking any one of the four "Spanish" categories, i.e., Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or other Spanish, are collectively referred to as "persons of Spanish origin."

In certain tabulations, persons of Spanish origin are further classified by type:

Persons who filled the circle for "other Spanish/Hispanic"; or persons who wrote in an origin or descent associated with Spain, the Dominican Republic, or any Central or South America country except Brazil or a nonspecific Spanish group such as "Spanish surnamed" or "Spanish speaking."

The Spanish-origin question was asked on a l00-percent basis for the first time in 1980. A similar question was asked on the 1970 5-percent sample questionnaire. For 1980, the category "No, not Spanish/Hispanic" appeared first (the corresponding category appeared last in 1970). Also, the terms "Mexican-American" and "Chicano" are added to the term "Mexican." The category "Central or South American," included in 1970, was dropped.

Although a question on Spanish origin was included in 1970, it was not the major identifier used to classify the Hispanic population in the 1970 census as it is in 1980. Depending on the section of the country, 1970 census data for "Persons of Spanish Heritage" were variously defined as "Persons of Puerto Rican Birth or Parentage" (in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania), as "Persons of Spanish language or Spanish Surname" (in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas), and as "Persons of Spanish Language" (in the remaining 42 States and the District of Columbia). "Spanish Language" referred to those persons who in 1970 reported Spanish as their mother tongue, as well as persons in families in which the household head or spouse reported Spanish as his or her mother tongue.

A large concentration of metropolitan population composed of two or more contiguous standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSA's) which together meet certain criteria of population size, urban character, social and economic integration, and/or contiguity of urbanized areas. Each SCSA must have a population of one million or more. Thirteen SCSA'S were in existence at the time of the 1980 census. They were defined by the Office of Management and Budget according to criteria published by that office in Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas: 1975. Four additional SCSA's have been defined based on 1980 census results.SCSA'S are identified by a 2-digit numeric code. Summaries for SCSA's appear in many reports, and in STF's 1C, 2C, 3C, and 4C. Summaries are generally provided for SCSA totals and for within-State parts of SCSA's.

The original 13 SCSA's were designated in 1975. For the 1960 and 1970 censuses, the Census Bureau recognized two "Standard Consolidated Areas" (SCA's), which encompassed metropolitan complexes around New York and Chicago.In 1982 or 1983, the SCSA concept will be replaced by the new Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) concept, with somewhat more flexible criteria, as spelled out in the Federal Register, January 3, 1980. These changes will not affect publication of l980 census data for SCSA's.